January 29, 2014 6:03pm ESTJanuary 29, 2014 10:19am ESTDale Earnhardt Jr. still needs sponsors for 13 races this season, but Rick Hendrick is offering no discounts for the sport's most popular driver. What does that say about NASCAR's sponsorship market?Dale Earnhardt Jr.(AP Photo)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rick Hendrick will wait patiently for the right sponsor to come along for Dale Earnhardt Jr., spending his own money or leveraging other business partners to fill the races for the sport’s most popular driver.

For the second consecutive year, Hendrick has started the year with 13 unsponsored races for Earnhardt, who made the Chase and finished fifth in the final standings last year. He will have 20 races sponsored by the Army National Guard and five by PepsiCo brands (Diet Mt. Dew, Amp, etc.).

Hendrick has routinely said he wouldn’t discount the price for Earnhardt, the son of the NASCAR Hall of Famer and the winner of the most popular driver award in each of the last 11 seasons. He emphasized that the Hendrick Motorsports team has no timetable or deadline to land a new deal.

“We will listen to anybody and we’re always looking, but there’s no (feeling of), ‘Golly, we’ve got to find somebody,’ because we’ve got two really good sponsors,” Hendrick said. “I’m wanting a long-term deal that fits that isn’t a conflict with the other guys.

Last year, Hendrick put his Hendrick Automotive Group website (hendrickcars.com) on the hood of Earnhardt's car for some races and also put Kasey Kahne sponsor and team partner Time Warner Cable on the car at times. He said those programs with Earnhardt helped out the organization.

At one point last year, Hendrick indicated he was close to landing a new sponsor but deal was ever announced.

“We’ve talked to a lot of people,” Hendrick said. “We’re talking to people long-term. One of the problems you have when you’ve got four teams is you’re conflicted with a lot of people.”

One of those conflicts is in the insurance field, where Earnhardt has a personal services agreement through JR Motorsports with Nationwide Insurance. Because of the Hendrick relationship with Farmers Insurance, Kahne's primary sponsor, there’s no opportunity for Nationwide to sponsor Earnhardt. Instead, the company, which has the title sponsorship of the Nationwide Series, also sponsors Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Roush Fenway Racing.

“(Earnhardt) has been fantastic for us and what we do through JRM, he has worked very hard for us,” Nationwide director of strategic sponsorships Jim McCoy said. “Dale’s time is at a premium and he’s got his sponsors and partners in the Nationwide Series that he’s got to invest his time and efforts against.

“On Hendrick’s side, they’ve got the Guard and Pepsi that are big brands that he’s doing a lot for as well. You’ve got to find somebody that fits well with those other partners.”

Aligning a company with Earnhardt is not cheap. The 20-race National Guard deal, including the money spent at racetracks and in other initiatives through the racing sponsorship, was budgeted at $29.96 million last year, according to figures provided to Congress.

Other teams don’t want Hendrick to sell the sponsorship at less than what it’s worth. Many of the smaller teams are selling sponsorships much cheaper than the bigger teams.

“Hendrick’s positioning is credible — he is the most popular driver in the sport and I’m glad that they are being selective,” said Richard Childress Racing Chief Operating Officer Torrey Galida, who spent his career working in racing sponsorships. “At some point, you’ve got to sell your open inventory and the market bears what the market will bear. … (His deal) has the potential to drive the value of everybody’s inventory down.

“I applaud them for maintaining the integrity.”

But Galida is still a little concerned.

“It says something about the sport overall,” Galida said. “We’re still very healthy. I’m really excited about the new TV partners (with NBC) in 2015, but it does say something that our most popular driver still has some inventory (open).”

Chip Ganassi Racing co-owner Felix Sabates, a good friend of Hendrick’s, said he didn’t think it was a sign of a problem for the sport. Ganassi teams have full sponsorship in three racing series.

“I don’t think Rick Hendrick has any problem getting a sponsor,” Sabates said. “It’s probably a matter of being selective of who he puts in with Dale. He has to get something besides just money for the sponsorship. He has to get something to promote Dale outside the sport to bring more revenues to the team.”

And Hendrick knows the power of Earnhardt. His other sponsors have seen it.

“It’s a premium brand to associate yourself (with), so that limits the number of companies,” McCoy said. “He delivers for us. He gets phones to ring."